Sylvie Julkowski-Egard, the love of portraits

Sylvie Julkowski-Egard, the love of portraits

Olimpia Gaia Martinelli | Nov 30, 2022 8 minutes read 0 comments
 

Sylvie Julkowski-Egard took oil painting lessons from 2006 to 2009. She then began to exhibit in her region, then in Paris (Salon des Artistes Français at the Grand Palais, Salon des Peintres du Marais, Salon d'Automne )...

What inspired you to create works of art and to become an artist? (events, feelings, experiences...)?

I have always wanted to go down this path. Life decided otherwise and it was only after raising my 3 children that I was able to take oil painting lessons at the Art School of Douai (near Lille) in the DERIC workshop for 3 years. Fortunately, I'm lucky to have a very sure eye for drawing, which has helped me considerably in my career.

What is your artistic background, the techniques and subjects you have experimented with so far?

As I said before, I took oil painting lessons from 2006 to 2009. Then I started exhibiting in my region and then in Paris (Salon des Artistes Français at the Grand Palais, Salon des Peintres du Marais , Salon d'Automne) but also many in the East where there are magnificent salons such as that of Lunéville, Vittel, Luxeuil, Thionville and Metz, etc.... I have obtained awards in these salons which pushed me to work even harder to always improve my technique and my look. Recently, the Zee-Art Gallery in Strasbourg offered me to work in collaboration, which I have been doing since September 2022.

Concerning the technique, it is oil painting and concerning the subjects, for a long time I was interested in all kinds of themes but for about 2 years, I have been refocusing on the portrait, whether it is the human being or the object.

What are the 3 aspects that differentiate you from other artists, making your work unique?

I really like contrasts and I work either in thick layers with a knife or with fluid paint and splashes.

I use quite marked contrasts of values or temperatures.

I paint areas "uneven" by drips or other "slips" and clearer areas that I preserve (often the face) to highlight the expression of the subject and draw the eye to the focal point.

Where does your inspiration come from?

Without a doubt, it comes from my daily work because one idea leads to another and so on. I also like to try new palettes or new techniques. As I hate routine, I am constantly experimenting. But I am also inspired by my environment, which is why I work in series on recurring subjects: "Urban Landscapes", "My Little Nanas", "Reflections on the passage of time"

What is your artistic approach? What visions, sensations or feelings do you want to evoke in the viewer?

The series on "Urban Landscapes" allows me to approach a season that I like for its shadows and its dazzling colors, summer.
I am mainly inspired by Paris, the city of light where I spend part of the year. Recently, I have been concentrating on human beings in the city and I capture fleeting moments (“Urban Ballet”, etc.), small everyday moments (café terraces), sometimes with framing individuals (“A summer break”).

In the series on vehicles I notice that despite all the efforts of the public authorities to push back the automobile, its place in our daily life remains of capital importance. Whether it runs on gas oil, gasoline, whether hybrid or electric, it remains present in our daily lives and is an integral part of the decor. I have chosen to represent transport vehicles (widening the theme to trams which are making a strong comeback and to Vespas specific to the 50s and 60s) in the manner of the Vanities of yesteryear, that is to say by representing the wear and tear, rust, holes, disrepair. Just like us, these vehicles are just passing by, the passage of time being inevitable.

Finally, in the series "My little girls" I am inspired by situations that I observe in society or in my entourage and that are close to my heart ("the Chosen One" on the theme of jealousy, "the immortal on that of vanity, etc.). I work in collaboration with my daughter who serves as my model to create scenes that will support my works. I regularly use a few symbols that will serve as reading keys.

It is a powerful, luminous painting made of contrasts that does not leave anyone indifferent.

What is the process of creating your works? Spontaneous or with a long preparatory process (technical, inspiration from art classics or other)?

My creative process is very instinctive. I have an idea in mind that I chalk up on the canvas. I start painting an "undercoat" to basically place the values. I let it dry and I come back accentuating the colors and the lights. At each stage, I go up in light and I specify the colors until the result suits me. I let the paint dry between each coat, which is why I always work on several canvases. It also allows me to detach myself from the subject and see it again with fresh eyes, the flaws jumping out more clearly. When I start the work, I only know very vaguely what it will look like, I actually adapt to it and try to improve it at each stage.

Do you use a particular working technique? If yes, can you explain it?

I use all kinds of tools, brushes, spalters to express myself. In my genre scenes (my little girls) I particularly develop the expression of the subject, the gaze, a reflection of the soul, using a nuanced color palette, while the environment is painted in a more energetic way. I proceed in the same way in the other series, but I use bright colors causing "accidents", spots, projections, leaving certain precise and neat parts.

Do you have a format or medium that you are most comfortable with? If yes, why ?

I much prefer the large linen canvas formats which allow freer and more lively gestures, but concerning the precise format, Figure, Landscape or Seascape, it is of course a function of the composition. Small formats are more difficult to work with for me.

Where do you produce your works? At home, in a shared workshop or in your own workshop? And in this space how do you organize your creative work?

I'm lucky to have a large workshop of about 80 m2, which is actually a winter garden in the middle of the house between the living room and the kitchen. As it is a glass roof, it is very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. But it is a place where I am permanently because I have an exceptional quality of light (with too much sun in summer!). In this workshop, I have a corner where I paint, another with a sofa and armchairs and a good part of the canvases are hung all around. It is also a place that my friends really appreciate.

Does your work lead you to travel to meet new collectors, for fairs or exhibitions? If so, what does it bring you?

I travel very regularly to Paris or the East of France for exhibitions or fairs. It is always a great joy to discover new artists, to see old ones again, to meet the organizers and above all the visitors who take the time to come and see our work and from whom we collect their impressions, their comments because it is not uncommon for them to have a different reading of the work and it is always very interesting to be able to discuss it directly. The painter only exists through the gaze of the other.

How do you imagine the evolution of your work and your career as an artist in the future?

It is difficult for me to say how my work will evolve because as I told you it is very instinctive, I hate routine and I tend to always try new techniques, etc. Regarding my career as an artist, I will continue as long as I can, having started at 45, I feel like a “young painter” and I still have a lot to say.

What is the theme, style or technique of your latest artistic production?

At the moment I am doing portraits of women in 100x100 cm in oil. These are close-ups in my preferred technique.

Can you tell us about your most important exhibition experience?

I had many very important exhibitions in the sense that each of them allowed me to gain self-confidence through the rewards that were given to me. It is a rather subjective activity and I must say that doubt constantly occupies my mind.

I had the good fortune to exhibit in very prestigious places but above all to deal with a very selective jury (I'm thinking of the Salon des Peintres de l'Armée at the Invalides) and what gives value to the exhibition , in my eyes, it's being accepted by a jury that doesn't know you, that chooses you solely for the quality of your work. This is the greatest mark of recognition.

If you could have created a famous work in the history of art, which one would you choose? And why ?

There are obviously a lot of them, but I must say that if I had made the Raft of the Medusa by Géricault, I would have been particularly proud! It is a moving picture of realism, eminently political and a humanist monument.

If you could invite one famous artist (dead or alive) to dinner, who would it be? How would you suggest he spend the evening?

I will invite Yan Pei-Ming and I will ask him to participate in a portrait with 4 hands on a "miniature" of 150x150 cm in color please!!

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